Wilfried Nancy flashed a wry smile and threw his arm around Pat Noonan’s shoulder as they exchanged greetings at the full-time whistle, even though FC Cincinnati’s tense 1-0 win at TQL Stadium had just pushed his Columbus Crew to the brink of playoffs elimination at the hands of their in-state rivals.
As hot as Hell Is Real’s fires burn – and notwithstanding some creative editing in Onside, the MLS/Apple TV+ docuseries that earlier this year implied differences between them which Noonan later said don’t exist – there’s ample mutual respect between these two coaches. That’s despite, or perhaps because of, their marked stylistic divergence: Nancy’s intricate, ball-hogging buildups vs. Noonan’s more physical, pragmatic approach.
